‘ACCOUNTABLE’
Beck blasts Rangers, NHL ‘cowards’ after Pavelich death
Former Rangers captain Barry Beck said the team and USA hockey were “accountable” for the death of Mark Pavelich because they did not support the “Miracle on Ice” star as he battled mental illness — possibly related to head injuries suffered during a sevenyear NHL career. Pavelich, who played five of those NHL seasons with the Rangers, died Thursday at a mental health treatment facility in central Minnesota.
Beck also took aim at the NHL, which he called “cowards,” hours after officials announced Friday that his 63-year-old former teammate had been found dead.
The cause of death is under investigation.
In a blistering, 946-word Facebook post, a heartbroken Beck blasted team president John Davidson, also a former teammate, for not returning an email asking the Rangers to “publicaly show their support for Mark by just saying one of their own former players was sick and we wish him well.”
But The Post learned Davidson had been in constant contact with former Rangers netminder Glen Healy of the NHL alumni association regarding Pavelich. In the Facebook post, Beck credited Healy and the alumni association for becoming “involved” with Pavelich.
“Well JD did not even return my email. I guess he was too [f---ing] busy,” wrote Beck, a Rangers defenseman from 1979-86. “He should have picked up the phone and called me. That would have been the right thing to do as we were teammates and he certainly would have my back right?
“You’re on your throne now John but if our paths ever cross you better be ready. Or maybe just turn your back again.”
The Rangers, who declined to comment on Beck’s post, said in a statement Friday that they were “saddened” to learn of the passing of Pavelich, a hardnosed, skilled center who spent five seasons with the organization from 1981-86 after playing a key role in the United States’ stunning gold medal win at the 1980 Olympics.
USA Hockey and the NHL sent out similar statements. Neither immediately responded to requests for comment in light of Beck’s post.
“The Rangers and USA hockey are accountable for Marks death,” Beck wrote. “The NHL has to grow a set of balls and take action.”
Pavelich was undergoing treatment at the facility as part of a civil commitment for assaulting a neighbor in August 2019. Pavelich was charged with felony assault, but was found incompetent to stand trial because he was deemed by the judge have a mental illness and dangerous.
Beck wrote that Pavelich’s sister, Jean, believed the Eveleth, Minn., native suffered from CTE, the degenerative brain disease often found in hockey and football players. It is associated with depression, memory loss and dementia and can only be diagnosed after death.
The NHL and commissioner Gary Bettman has previously said that the “relationship between concussions and the asserted clinical symptoms of CTE remains unknown,” even as several other deceased players were found to have had the disease.